Pleasant surprise! Drove past Aldi yesterday and noticed that G24's cameras were missing so I returned later and found that all trace of G24's signs and equipment had been removed including some nasty gadgets that shred your tyres if you try to leave by the wrong exit lane, so I went in and asked for the manager. He was guarded, but confirmed that they had not renewed G24's contract. I asked if this was a nation-wide decision by Aldi, but he replied that it was only his store's decision. I expressed pleasure and told him of all the nasty letters they send out. " I've seen them all" he replied. He expressed the personal view that he thought G24 were a dodgy company, but he added that they would be contracting a new company also using number plate recognition systems. He reminded me that the parking area was private property. I sincerely hope that other large stores, who contract with G24, follow suit. Our town's council has recently contracted a private company to control the council parking areas and patrol yellow line infractions. The difference of course is that they are authorized by the road traffic act and also they have an office in town where one can appeal a ticket and can be treated with a certain amount of understanding and respect.

It has now been 6 months since I committed my "traffic offence" and several weeks since the home visit letter, so I assume there is nothing more to expect. A funny, but true story to lighten up the thread. I was in Spain last week and met a friend who lives in Spain whom I had not seen for over a year. We were talking about government corruption and I raised the issue about the DVLA selling our personal data for £2-50 in spite of the Data Protection Act. He was astounded and disgusted and it turns out that he was also caught by G24 at an Aldi store in the South West. He thought that the traffic notice was dodgy, but paid his £40 as he assumed it was all legal. The amusing part of the story is that he has been divorced for several years, but had moved back to the family home in the UK before Christmas, after an apparent reconciliation. He had borrowed his wife's car, but was caught by G24's camera with a lady friend in the car. As his wife is the registered keeper, she received the traffic charge certificate with quite clear images. He is now back in Spain, homeless!

I got the home visit letter several weeks ago, put the kettle on, still waiting!

Agree. Just ignore them. A nice letter arrives from Charles Howard and Partners written on a quality yellow coloured paper just like you would expect from a fancy solicitors, but at the bottom in tiny printing is the following: Charles Howard and Partners is a trading style of Comercial Collection Services Ltd Probably someone pointed out that it was illegal to pretend to be a Solicitor!!

Thanks Abo. You are right. I read through the following Small claims which I found interesting, but probably read it too quickly, but the point I was making is that any small claims court action would have to be in my town, so G24 would have to make the trip here with no certainty of winning and being able to claim travel expenses. They can of course present their claim by letter, but then I will have the judge's undivided attention. Lamma just mentioned the word "scared". I must admit that for a law abiding citizen this kind of problem does cause some anxiety, but you just have to grit your teeth, right is might as they say. As you can guess from my pseudonym I am an old pensioner. I lived for many years in a lawless third world country in South America. I've been mugged at gun point. American Express sent an armed debt collector to my house once in the 1980's. I was arrested and spent a day in jail on a trumped up charge when I evicted someone who hadn't paid the rent for 6 months. What can G24 do to me? So for those of you younger guys out there with a Civil Traffic Enforcement Notice, sweat it out. Just by resisting and even having to go to court (extremely unlikely) you will have won, because the way these people operate is not right, it is unjust. English law is supposed to be fair and dates from the Magna Carta and there has to be another way. We must make a stand against these bullies, and by doing so you will feel good.

They probably won't bother. As far as I can see, to take this to the small claims court would cost them more in expenses than they will recuperate. Even if they introduce the case at their local county court, it will be transferred to your local court. In the small claims court the claimant (G24) is responsible for their own costs and cannot claim from you even if they win so really all these letters are bluff. If they have a case why don't they just send it to the court. I've already received the first CCSCollect letter. What is curious is that the letter was dated about 15 days before I actually got it , so the deadline to avoid legal action has already gone. This is probably designed to stampede me into paying or calling them so that they can get my number from 1471

I don't think that they will do anything else. The worst case scenario is that they will sue. This is a civil and not a criminal matter so that they will have to apply to a county court. If the court accepts their claim, it will be transferred to a county court where you live, so if they want to attend the court it will cost them travel expenses and solicitors fees. In the small claims court, even if you lose you are only responsible for the costs of the court and are not liable for the claimants legal costs and expenses. Most small claims defendants defend themselves or better still go to the Citizens advice bureau for help and they will advise you for free. If you pay a solicitor you are responsible for their costs even if you win. Its ok to ignore G24's letters, but if the court contacts you obviously you must respond. There are apparently two forms to reply with, depending on whether you accept the claim or intend to contest it. Remember, your credit reference will only be affected if you have a judgment against you and you fail to pay, so to use this as a threat is harassment. My conclusion is that it would cost them more in expenses to go to court than what they could recuperate if they win. The following link is useful reading: Small claims My update is that I have just received the notification that I now owe them £70.00 The mayor was disgusted and suggests I contact the local press. A couple of weeks ago I went into Aldi, spoke to the manager and asked if he had received a lot of complaints about the parking situation with G24. He replied that he had received some and did I have a problem? I told him that I did and that I thought G24 were operating too close to the line between legality and illegality. I told him also that I was going to make a big fuss in the local press. He then told me that Aldi had made a big mistake in appointing G24 and were not going to renew the contract with them this year. He even asked me if I could suggest a better way of running a private car park!! There are a couple of local stores operating pay and display machines with tickets in two halves, one to stick on the windscreen and the other can be used for a refund of the first hour when you buy in the store. Any suggestions out there?

Thanks for showing us copies of all the demand notices. You are doing a great service. I got my "Charge Certificate" from G24 last Saturday and do not intend to pay until a court tells me to. I googled G24 and was amazed at the amount of advice out there. Now I know what to expect from them I will be better equipped mentally to handle it. At the end of the day it wil be £70 plus some costs and as I am a pensioner I can ask to pay in installments, like about £5 per month so really its not a big problem. In the meantime I'm going to write to my MP about the Data protection angle and to our local mayor who I know personally, to see if Aldi have the necessary license to operate a private parking lot. I believe also that CCTV cameras also need permissions. Anyway the object is to stir enough to get these extorsionists out of our town. As this thing progresses I'll keep posting